Learning about The Bridge

A few weeks ago I read an article, entitled 'The Bridge', by Scott Ritter about the experiences of his father-in-law (and others, including himself and his wife) in the Abkhazian war of 1992-93. The what? Well, that was my first reaction to the first mention of the war in the article. So I researched it. Wikipedia has the usual, sometimes boring, informative, coming from 'approved' history, article. It gives background and information and taught me a bit about the war. The BBC also has a short profile of Abkhazia which is informative. The region (much of the rest of the world does not recognize it as a country), whatever, is on the east coast of the Black Sea, and was/is part of Georgia once. Both were part of the USSR.

Map of the Region, from the BBC article linked above.

The Abkhazian war erupted in 1992 as tensions following the fall of the USSR grew. Ethnic Abkhazians, supported by Russians and Armenians, fought to regain the region from Georgian government control. In doing so, they massacred thousands of ethnic Georgians (and vice versa) and internally displaced or made into refugees something like 250,000 ethnic Georgians (see Wikipedia article linked above). The capital city is Sukhumi (founded by the Greeks in 6th C BCE) and was/is a place Russians go to vacation. The region/country's economy is greatly dependent upon tourism from Russia (see BBC article linked above). Time magazine did a photo essay of Abkhazia 20 years after the war (10 years ago), it's worth looking at and reading to learn more about the region.

With that little bit of learning I was able to place Ritter's article, 'The Bridge', in context, so to speak. And after reading it, all I have to say is...

Dance and Sing in Russian!

I was gonna write a bit about the economy. But, there were some minor panics in the family arena: nothing major (parents' tax return from the accountant was late, one of their car's wouldn't run (until my husband touched it, then it ran!)); all hands on deck were needed for a few days. And then the new war (Hamas/Israel) started and I'm... yea. I just want to get my comfy-est blanket wrapped around me, put it over my head and mumble once in a while. Maybe I'll eat a gallon of ice cream too. Or this great apple tart Hubby made me. I'll peek out when something good happens, like, Halloween or something.

I think I'm getting too old, or I just don't watch enough current thought-manipulation, err, main stream media. All I could think when the Hamas/Israel thing started was, 'Ahh, now 'they' have another war! And we can all forget about the Ukraine thing which wasn't going so well! Just in time. Imagine that!' And, 'How did this Hamas stuff happen without the intel in the USA, Nato, Israel, not knowing?' I mean, apparently Egypt knew, and tried to tell them. So, were those poor people who died so awfully just sacrifices to gin up enthusiasm for a new war, which is really horrible, frankly? Am I too cynical?

And the Second Greatest Evil is Indifference

You might know that Chris Hedges has a new book out - The Greatest Evil is War.

Some Good Stuff - World Beyond War!

Late last month I got an email from an anti-war group that interests me: World Beyond War.

Sima goes on an Anti-War Rant:

War! Why do we have to go through this all over again? And over, and over, and over?

My Republican friends, fellow registered Democrats, Independents, and Greens- let's just all of us say it out loud together: The people who lose most playing Red vs Blue are me and you.